EU toughens sanctions targeting Zimbabwe firms and officials
BRUSSELS, Tuesday
The European Union sought today to step up pressure on Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe by widening sanctions to target more officials and companies linked to his government.
“We are adding 37 people and four companies (to the EU sanctions list),” an EU official said of the move by EU foreign ministers after widely condemned elections.
Ministers agreed the step despite the deal signed by Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday for two weeks of negotiations on a possible power-sharing accord.
Diplomats said ministers would look at how the sanctions could be implemented to find the balance between taking a tough line on Mugabe and supporting talks.
“Yesterday, they ... signed the beginning of the process to have a substantive agreement ... it’s better than nothing,” French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said ahead of the EU meeting he was chairing.
“We will consider together this positive step, and the necessary sanctions,” he added. “I do not yet know what form they will take.”
The EU has refused to recognise Mugabe’s re-election in a June 27 run-off in which he was the only candidate. It has called for a new election as soon as possible after a short transition from Mugabe’s rule.
Tsvangirai boycotted the run-off because of attacks on his supporters despite winning the first round vote.
US President George W. Bush said last week the United States was looking at imposing more sanctions against Zimbabwe’s government after a U.N. resolution was torpedoed by Russia and China earlier in the month.
“The sanctions ... are designed very much to reinforce the drive for the transitional government that reflects the democratic will of the Zimbabwe people as expressed in the election in March,” Britain’s foreign secretary David Miliband said, referring to the first round of the election. Kouchner said Tsvangirai should be prime minister.
Existing EU sanctions include an arms embargo, visa bans and freezing of assets on more than 100 officials including Mugabe.
The sanctions were initially triggered by Zimbabwe’s land redistribution plan, under which white-owned farms were seized, and Mugabe’s disputed 2002 re-election.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change were due to begin negotiations on Tuesday, but both sides differ on who should lead any government of national unity and how long it should stay in power.
“It is way too early to start discussing any lifting of the sanctions,” Finland’s foreign minister Alexander Stubb said ahead of the EU meeting. “We of course welcome this move ... but we are nowhere where we should be and we’ll keep pressure on.”
(Editing by Mark John and Matthew Tostevin)
